Christopher "Chris" King and Victoria "Vicki" Grant are depicted as two featured duo characters from DC Comics within the series Dial H for Hero. They are portrayed as normal kids who can transform themselves as superheroes replacing Robby Reed during the 1980s.
Fictional character biography Original series The second Dial H for Hero series debuted in the 1980s, in a special insert in Legion of Super-Heroes #272 (February 1981), then ran in Adventure Comics #479–490 and continued in New Adventures of Superboy #28–49; the duo also appeared alongside Superman in DC Comics Presents #44. The original writer and artist in the series were Marv Wolfman and Carmine Infantino.
In this series, two other dials are discovered years later by teenagers Christopher "Chris" King and Victoria "Vicki" Grant of the New England town of Fairfax in a "haunted house". These dials — disguised as a watch and a necklace — only have the letters H-E-R-O on them, and work only for an hour, after which they will not work for another hour. King and Grant begin protecting Fairfax from a number of menaces. Unknown to them, most of these villains are created by a mysterious villain known only as The Master (who is obsessed with the H-dials for reasons unknown for most of the series) who creates them from the cell samples of unknown people.
While anyone could use Chris and Vicki's H-dials, they always turned the user into a hero, regardless of his or her personality; even The Master was temporarily made good by one. This fact has been ignored in later stories. On one occasion, a hero's persona overwhelmed the heroic Chris's own personality; as "Ragnarok, the Cosmic Viking", he possessed no awareness of Chris King's memories and acted with disregard for others's property and safety, going so far as to threaten police officers and swat away Vicki (as the miniature heroine "Pixie") when she attempted to talk him down, failing to recognize her as an ally.Adventure Comics #488 (December 1981). DC Comics. On a side note, it was a matter of contention with Chris when he first started using the dial that while Vicki changed into useful heroes with applicable powers, Chris's powers tended to be obscure and not particularly useful to defeat his opponent, such as when he changed into a super hero that could duplicate things and he outright began complaining about his useless ability. Indeed, it was that issue where Vicki showed Chris to think "outside the box" and use his temporary gifts creatively so they could be useful, at which point he helped defeat that issue's bad guy. Once this lesson was learned, Chris's super-hero changes became more relevant to the situation, but no explanation was given as to why this was.
Eventually Chris and Vicki discover that a fellow student named Nick Stevens has been drawing up superheroes as a hobby — and somehow, the dials turn them into those heroes. With Nick's help, they find out that their dials were created by a being called The Wizard (not to be confused with the DC Comics villain of the same name), whom the Master thought he'd killed years before. In truth, The Wizard faked his death while he looked for the original Hero Dial. With it, he merges with The Master — and transforms into Robby Reed, who explains that years before, he had used the dial to split in two (dialing "S P L I T") so that he could disarm a dead man's switch, while his other self, the Wizard, defeated the villain who set it. However, the Wizard carried all of Robby's inherent goodness, while the Robby that remained possessed only evil impulses; the original Hero Dial was lost when this Robby, renaming himself The Master, dialed "hide yourself", causing the dial to vanish along with The Master's and The Wizard's memories of their former life as Robby Reed. While The Master learned genetic techniques that allowed him to create his army of super-villains, the Wizard was driven to create the new H-dials, unconsciously designing limitations into them to prevent what happened to Robby from recurring (only heroic identities, a time limit, and the exclusion of letters other than H-E-R-O; the latter, however, did not prevent Chris from experimenting on one occasion and dialing H-O-R-R-O-R, with disastrous resultsDC Comics Presents #44 (April 1982). DC Comics.). With Nick developing the ability to actively influence the dials' results (rather than subconsciously as before), Robby passes his dial to Nick, and retires as a hero.
In New Teen Titans #45 (June 1988), Victoria and Chris's history after the end of their series is revealed. After the two teens graduated from high school Vicki was recruited to join a cult called the Children of the Sun, where she was physically and mentally abused, deranging her. She sought out her former partner Chris in order to kill him. With help from the Teen Titans, Chris rescued her in the following issue. Chris now finds that he changes into a new superhero every hour, without the dial, and remains that way until he expends an unspecified amount of energy. He decides to continue his superhero career, using a suit provided by S.T.A.R. Labs to monitor his changes.
In Superboy and the Ravers #5 (January 1997), Hero Cruz finds Vicki's H-dial in the lair of Scavenger, and uses it to gain superpowers. A still deranged Vicki returns in issue #13 (September 1997) to get her dial back from Hero, but she regains her sanity once she uses the device. She is last seen in the care of the Forces, a family of metahumans.
Other appearances As an epilogue to the Chris King/Vicki Grant Dial H series, The New Adventures of Superboy #50 features a story in which Chris King's watch is stolen from the Space Museum of the Legion of Super-Heroes' time period by a thief named Nylor Truggs, who flees with the dial to the ambiguous late 1960s/early 1970s era-Smallville of the original (Earth-One) Superboy by altering the dial's functions in some unexplained manner, allowing him to travel in time. Truggs further alters the H-dial to break the restriction that users can only transform into heroic identities, changing the "H" in the center of the dial to "V" for "villain". Truggs also makes the dial capable of changing individuals other than himself into villains if he desires; those transformed would then be under Truggs's control. Truggs transforms several of Clark Kent's high school friends, and forms a temporary alliance with a teenaged Lex Luthor, in a scheme to plant seismic devices in their time period so that Truggs can use those devices against the people of his own future time upon his return. Truggs's plan is foiled by Superboy, several members of the Legion, and Krypto the Superdog, the latter of which destroys the stolen H-Dial by crushing it in his jaws. Vicki Grant's H-Dial is also shown to have survived to the Legion's time and is slated to replace King's dial in the museum display. As this story was published before the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths (which erased the Earth-One Superboy from continuity) and the subsequent rebootings of the Legion of Super-Heroes's history, it is unlikely that any elements of this story exist in current continuity.
Hero forms Chris King Moth – A superhero with flight ability. Mega Boy – A superhero that could shoot powerful beams from his hands. Color Commando – A superhero who used a variety of color-based weapons with different effects. Doomster, Master of the Cosmic Lightning – A superhero that could shoot and ride lightning bolts. Composite Man – A superhero who could create miniature duplicates of himself. Captain Electron – A superhero that could shoot destructive electron-blasts from his hands. Mister Mystical, Master of Magic – A superhero who possessed magical abilities. Star Flare – Described by Chris as "the Human Missile" and "the greatest hero since Superman". This identity allowed Chris to fly and wield a star sword. Solar Flare – A superhero with the ability to fly and a power punch (although Chris was only shown using the latter). Wrangler – A "cosmic cowboy" that Chris became to battle Battering Ram. Goldman – A flying superhero who created "gold" constructs. He is the partner of Goldgirl. Sixth Sensor – A mind-reading superhero. Volcano – A superhero with power over the earth, specifically lava. Mister Thin – A two-dimensional creature that could stretch like a rubber band. He has four legs and a freakish face. Interchange the Metamorphic Man - A hero that has a tank power that was never shown. Anti-Man – A flying superhero with anti-matter blasts. Dragonfly – A winged superhero with multi-directional sight. Teleman – A teleporting superhero. Zeep the Living Sponge – He was created by future comic-book artist Stephen DeStefano. Zeep later appeared in DeStefano and Bob Rozakis's Hero Hotline series. He had the power to bounce. Lightmaster – A superhero, but no other details were given. This character and the next in this list were dismissed in but one panel. Molecule Man – A superhero. No other details were given. Music Master – A superhero with a radio that turned sound into energy he could manipulate. Gladiator – A superhero with a sorcery-spawned power sword. This character could not fly. White – A superhero who emitted a beam of white energy that was harmless until it crossed a similar beam from his partner Black. Waspman – A flying superhero who fired "wasp stingers". Vibro the Quakemaster – A superhero with vibration power. Steadfast – A superhero with the power to immobilize anything moving. Gravity Boy – A superhero that controlled gravity. Blast Boy – A superhero with an explosive punch. Electrostatic – A superhero that is the master of all electromagnetic waves. Lumino – A superhero that is able to create solid light shapes. Enlarger Man – A superhero that is able to enlarge things. Brimstone – A superhero that can fly and control lava. Avatar – A master of the four elements who rode Sahri the Spirit Tiger. Wind Rider – A superhero that is able to fly and control air. Psi-Fire – A superhero that could solidify or become intangible with his mental powers. Oxide – A superhero that could cause metal to rust. Ragnarok the Cosmic Viking – A mystical superhero with enhanced strength and a magical battle axe. Ragnarok's self-identity completely suppressed Chris's own personality, including his knowledge that Vicki (as Pixie) was an ally. Captain Saturn – A superhero who could control giant flying rings that could bind enemies. Moonlight – A superhero with the power to project either bright light or darkness. Mental Man – A superhero with goggles that allowed him to project realistic illusions. Neon – An energy-blasting superhero. Phase Master – A superhero who could turn anything into solid, liquid, or gas. Multi-Force – A superhero who could create a duplicate of any object. Gemstone – A superhero with a super-hard crystalline body. Hasty Pudding - A superhero who could not move normally. He either stood rock still or ran like the Flash. Radar Man – A superhero that is able to locate things and teleport to their location. Stuntmaster – A superhero that rode a high-tech motorcycle and had an energy-firing scepter. Shadow Master – A superhero that is able to create shadows. Centaurus, Master of Vibration – A superhero with the ability to absorb vibration and use it as an energy blast. Deflecto – A superhero that could create projectile force-fields that would deflect anything thrown at him. Worm Man – A superhero that is half-human, half-giant worm. He could eat/dig his way through earth at super-speed. Spectro – A superhero whose powers were never shown. This and the next 3 are another instance where characters that somebody took the trouble to create was dismissed in but one panel. These were on a world where time works differently. Airmaster – A superhero whose powers were never shown. Sting – A superhero whose powers were never shown.